Calgary (3-3-1) at Phoenix (3-3-0), 9:00 pm EDT
GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- After dropping three straight road
games, the confines of Jobing.com Arena never seemed so
welcoming to the Phoenix Coyotes. The same cannot be said for
the Calgary Flames, who will have traveled 1,600 miles to face
Wayne Gretzky's team.
The Coyotes will look to put an end to the skid when they host
the Flames on Saturday.
Phoenix enabled the Ottawa Senators to jump out to a 3-0 edge
after the first period during a 6-3 loss on October 17, and then
surrendered two goals in each of the first and second sessions
in a 4-1 setback to the Montreal Canadiens the following day.
The pattern continued on Thursday, but rookie Mikkel Boedker and
Peter Mueller scored in the third to lift the Coyotes to a 2-1
win over the Washington Capitals.
Starting in place of Ilya Bryzgalov, Mikael Tellqvist stopped 31
shots for Phoenix, which has won its first two home games for
the first time since 2000-01.
Beginning a span of four of six contests on the road, Calgary
also cruised to a victory on Thursday. Captain Jarome Iginla
recorded a hat trick to lift the Flames to a 5-3 triumph over
the Nashville Predators
Miikka Kiprusoff finished with 35 saves on Thursday and notched
his second consecutive victory.
This game is one of 15 on Saturday's NHL schedule - the first
time every team will compete on the same night since October 5,
2005. On that date, Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf was one of
46 players making their league debut and was held scoreless
during a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.